PhoneCall, Favour and Random Abuse of Power
by gladsomemind
Summary: Prequel to The End of the Affair.  Sean needs help and Haley might know someone who can assist. Reid/Sean slash. First part is dialogue only.
1. Phone Call

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds.

**The Phone-call, the Favour and the Random Abuse of Power**

"Hey Babes"

_"Oh, mon Cherie, ou est la rue St Jacques?"_

"Hello Sean. I thought you were going to be Aaron."

_"Glad to hear it. Don't want to know if you are fooling around on the side. I'd hate the thought that my big bro isn't treating you right."_

"No sugar, I'm well satisfied."

_"Stop, stop. No details. Tender impressionable ears here! So I take it he's away on some case in the middle of nowhere. Deserting me in my hour of need!"_

"He's at some conference; in Baltimore. And I expect him back this evening."

_"Oh, snuggles for you!"_

"Thought you didn't want to hear about that? Because there's this thing he does, with his tongue..."

_"Eugh, stop stop."_

"So what's so important that you're ringing today?"

_"Haley darlin', I always call on a Wednesday."_

"Yes sweetums. I know. However today is Tuesday. What are you drinking over there?"

_"Tuesday? You sure?"_

"Yes, Sean. All day in fact."

_"Damn. My life is over. I'm going to drop out of college and go live in a hut on a beach somewhere. Maybe half naked native girls will take pity on my unmet needs and offer themselves..."_

"Sean, I don't want to hear your island fantasy. I need to get to the store if we are going to eat tonight."

_"OK sis. No fantasy. But I hope you don't mind having an idiot as a brother in law."_

"An idiot? God, tell me you haven't knocked some girl up!"

_"Hale, don't be stupid. There are these wonderful things these days called condoms. Great for stopping that. Aaron made me watch this really gruesome video, tell you it was an actual tape. Eugh, he ever offer to get out his tape collection - believe me girl, say no!"_

"Sean, as much as I would love to chat - did you have actually need something? 'Cause seriously food good, starving bad."

_"I need help Hale. If I'm going to graduate I need to pass calculus. If I'm ever going to get into law school I need to pass it this year. I'm telling you it makes no sense, probably not going to be helped by missing today's class - you're really sure it's Tuesday? I'm hoping that Aaron could remember how to do it enough that he could help me out a little."_

"You want _your_ brother to help you out with Math? Your brother. The man who can't even balance his check book? That brother?"

_"Bad idea, huh?"_

"Not the best you've ever had."

_"Don't suppose you..."_

"Sean. English Lit. Liberal Arts. I needed Math 101!"

_"God I'm screwed. You'll still love me when I'm pushing 'fries with that' won't you?"_

"Hmm... One idea for you. Baby bro, would you like me to abuse my position as Aaron's wife to help you pass calculus?"

_"What are you thinking you sneaky, lovely, sister-in-law you?"_

"There's some new guy in the unit. Doctor something or other. I think Gideon said it was in Chemistry or Physics or something, to be honest I wasn't paying that much attention. Is that bad of me? It sounds bad. But you know Gideon, he does go on."

_"Hale."_

"Anyway it was something sciencey. You think he'd know anything about calc?"

_"He'd probably have been expected to pass it at some point. Do you think he'd help? Let's face it that bunch are a bit, hell a lot, full of themselves."_

"Oh totally. But this guy's new. He's going to want to score some points. What better way than to help out a close family member of one of the senior agents?"

_"Sucking up to the boss. A time honoured tradition. But what the hey, if you can convince the old codger to give me a hand then I'll take whatever help I can get. See if you can get this guy to come round to the frat. If he's new in town then he's going to need to move into a new place. He helps me and the guys..."_

"So it's not just you then?"

_"Shut it gorgeous. If he helps us pass calc, then me and the guys will haul boxes for him when he moves in."_

"I'll see what I can do."

_"Thanks Hale. I'll see you Sunday. Now go, kill a buffalo, feed him up so he won't be mad when we tell him what else you've cooked up!"_

"Goodbye Sean."

_"Au revior mon petite chat"_

"I wonder if he knows any French. He might be able to help you out there as well!"

_"Nah, I'm taking Russian!"_

"And a nation rejoices! See you Sunday."

*Click*


	2. Favour

Monday evening, 7pm, and Spencer Reid was standing where he never expected to be. On the front steps of a frat house, ready to ring the bell, fully anticipating being allowed entry. How things changed.

The road to this stoop was a little bizarre. If he understood the explanation correctly SSA Hotchner's brother was having problems with some complicated math course and had told the senior agent's wife, who told 'Hotch', who asked Gideon to ask him if he would see if he could help. In return for which - provided, of course, that he was able to help - the brother would help him move into a place when he found one. A place he wasn't going to be able to find as he was standing on the steps of a frat house.

Quite why it had to be tonight, 'Tuesday's go missing' not being particularly illuminating as far as explanations go, was still up for debate. Maybe it would all become clear. All Spencer wanted to do was get this over with. His stammered explanation that there was no guarantee that he would be able to help had fallen on ears that had been walking away.

So, best case scenario is that everyone is out and he can say that he came - then just forget about the whole thing and go back to trying to avoid being noticed by Derek Morgan. Worst case, and therefore, by dint of the over-riding power of Murphy, the most likely, scenario the questions are in a branch of mathematics he'd never studied and Spencer would like an idiot in front of the proxy of a man who could wreak his career before it started.

He did have to ring the bell first though.

Unsurprisingly, for a frat, the bell was obnoxious in its tone. Too late to back out now and claim that he'd been unable to find the place - that genius didn't mean you had a good sense of direction.

The door opened and Spencer was faced with the next dilemma; addressing a wall of sports shirted muscle that invariably turned out to be a bully. 'FBI. You are a special agent of the FBI. If you can't talk to one college student how are you supposed to be able to take down an unsub?'

"Hello." OK, so not quite conversation but it served as on opener.

"Hi." Perfect, a monosyllabic response.

"I'm looking for Sean Hotchner?" Spencer kicked himself mentally for the question in the remark.

The door opened wider and an arm thicker than Spencer's leg waved him in. Ten steps forward and the door shut again with a thud, making him jump. Then the vocal projection inherent in the other man's frame was realised as he bellowed to the house.

"Sean! Your boyfriend's here."


	3. Random Abuse

"Sean! Your boyfriend's here."

Mike could probably be heard in the next state, and the grumbling coming from the other rooms indicated that the other inhabitants concurred, but it was the words that flipped the switch in Sean's head.

Just because Mike had been witness to, and perpetually amused by since, Sean's breakup with his girlfriend did not give him the green light for this teasing. The fight had been loud, embarrassing and if Sean was honest, about completely the wrong thing. It should have been about her being a boring air-head with so little conversation that he had to zone her out and was left staring into space. Instead it had been about Sean checking out the ass of a guy in the coffee line. As it happened the guy did have a cute butt, as far as a man's butt was going to be cute, but truly it had just been in the direction he was looking.

Overall though, the worst part of the breakup, other than the loss of hot bunny sex on tap and the need to find a new coffee shop, was Mike's continuing torment. Since the incident, any guy talking to Sean had prompted Mike to ask if this was the new man in his life. It was getting to be almost as embarrassing as the original fight.

Coming down the stairs Sean got the opportunity to see the latest victim; tall, thin, early twenties, not particularly well dressed; and was hit with a method of shutting Mike up once and for all. Taking the last few steps two at a time, Sean covered the intervening space quickly. Acting before common sense had the chance to argue that this was a stupendously bad idea he took hold of the other man's head and brought their lips together.

Halfway up the stairs that had been the plan. Kiss the guy, _mwah_, on the lips, then turn and raise an eyebrow at Mike before moving on. Mike's good ole boy homophobia would make him drop the whole thing and life could move on. Albeit after an apology to whomever he was currently kissing.

That plan was sent flying out the door by the realisation that he wasn't the only person in this kiss. Although the stranger's hands came up to grab Sean's arms his lips parted in a gasp and suddenly the game changed. Suddenly it was important to make this kiss good.

Loosening the death grip allowed Sean to slide one hand into the guy's hair while the other moved to caress his neck. Parting his own lips he could then give a tentative lick to see if he would be allowed entry. His partner's lips opened a little more and Sean pursued the kiss to the next stage, tasting coffee and sweetness as their tongues began to battle.

Mike coughing behind him brought Sean up just short of grinding against the guy. Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Sean allowed his arms to be pulled down before turning and, opening the eyes he hadn't realised he had closed, to face his amused looking housemate.

"Terribly sorry... Sorry, what do I call you?" Five minutes earlier and Sean would have been prepared to bet that Mike would go for the whole 'it never happened' denial thing but he was standing there holding a black wallet with a big grin on his face.

"Spencer's fine."

"Terribly sorry Spencer, he greets everyone who's here to help like that. You should have seen him with the plumber, not a pretty sight - we had to pry him off!" Mike stood there lying and shaking his head. "We try to break him out of it but aren't having a lot of success."

Finally Mike made eye contact with Sean, the amusement in his eyes did not bode well.

"Anyway, Spencer this is Sean Hotchner. It's always good to do the formal introductions isn't it?" Mike handed Spencer the wallet before turning back to Sean.

"Sean this is Spencer Reid." He leaned in so that he could whisper directly into Sean's ear. "Eff Bee Eye."


	4. A Little Interlude

Spencer Reid sat at the table opposite the man who, half an hour ago, had walked up to him and kissed him as if was about to go out of fashion and tried to make sense of what he was hearing.

"Differential calculus?" he asked again as if the answer might change. Spencer looked around the table and took in the various nodding heads.

"Power, derivative, thing to the one less; differentiate and put equal to zero; chain rule; quotient rule..." The looks were getting more confused. "Math 201?" This final garnered a look of comprehension.

"You did physics or chemistry or something didn't you?" One of the, currently nameless, inhabitants asked.

"Chemistry but..."

"So you had to do this stuff didn't you?" All Spencer could do was nod, still confused as to how an entire group of, presumably intelligent, men hadn't done differential calculus in high school and were apparently failing now.

"So here's the deal. You help us get through the course." Agent Hotchner's insane brother said.

"I'm not going to help you cheat." Visions of high school jocks paraded through Spencer's mind. A wall of shocked faces stared back at him.

"Well if that's what you think..."

"I don't believe it!"

"What's the point in that? There's little things called midterms..."

"You help _us_ get through though the course." Sean cut across his study group. "In return we provide some manual labour moving things into your new place. And," he held up his hand for some silence. "As an additional bonus, Mike here will feed you at the sessions."

Mike, who had mean leaning on the wall and laughing broke in with his own, "hey," then looked Spencer up and down before adding, "then again he does need feeding up. He looks like Charles Atlas' before photo!"

Spencer could feel himself going red under all the scrutiny and could only nod at the question, "deal?"

* * *

This all led Spencer to here; sitting on the sofa in the den, wedged between Sean and Mike trying to eat chips and salsa, while the other two were jumping about from excitement at the game on the television. Starting to feel battered it was something of a relief to get to the commercials, even if it did focus the attention to the two men on Spencer and the bowl of chips.

"So, what do you do at the FBI?" "Is big bro treating you alright?" Questions came from both sides and Spencer's head bounced back and forth as if he was watching some demented tennis match.

"Agent Hotchner is one of the agents in charge. I don't really have a lot to do with him." Switch. "Most of what I'm doing at the moment is reviewing old case files trying to understand the profiles, doing my own and matching what I've come up with against the ones that caught the unsub." Switch. "He's out of town at the moment with SSAIC Gideon. Gone to Boston on a case." Switch. "Hopefully in a couple of months I'll be going on the bigger cases with the team." Switch, but the attention had reverted back to the television.

Spencer reviewed what he had just said. It was true that he hoped to one day be as good a profiler as agents Gideon or Hotchner, or even Morgan, but he had to admit to being terrified at the thought of travelling with the team. For all the early advancement in school and going to college so young he really was something of a homebody.

For now it was companionable to sit with these people, who if they had been at his high school would have numbered amongst his tormentors, and ponder how things had changed. Finally, he was grateful that Gideon had convinced him to apply for the FBI and had pulled the necessary strings to get Spencer assigned to the BAU with no seniority. It was a world away from the job offers from industry even knowing the satisfaction to be had from solving a process engineering puzzle, this felt like a good fit.


	5. Top Secret

It was nearly a year since Reid first stood on these steps. He had knocked on this door thirty four times, with breaks for academic vacations and work trips and a few additions for the occasional party.

The study group had changed over the months depending on the courses being taken in the frat, mainly as a result of his second visit.

_"You said you did Chemistry." Sean's attack came out of nowhere as Spencer tried to extract himself from an unexpected bear hug from Mike._

_"What?" It was a little hard to concentrate on the conversation as Mike had moved on to, still somehow friendly, noogies._

_"I spoke to Aaron had he said you were a Doctor of Mathematics. Why'd ya lie?"_

_Spencer really couldn't see what the problem was here. They wanted help in Math, why were they arguing about Chemistry? His reasons for not being totally open were easy to profile. A degree in Chemistry qualified Spencer to tutor them in the math they couldn't do. Three degrees qualified him to be in a girl group. Three doctorates plus another two unrelated degrees qualified Spencer to be a freak asking to be tormented and abused."_

_Trying to pick his words carefully, Spencer choked out an answer. "I have the doctorate in Math as well as the Chemistry."  
_

_"Anything else?"_

_"Chemical Engineering." That was at least close to the Chemistry and could, conceivably, be done together - if you had no idea of the intensity of any engineering degree._

_"That's it?"_

_"Yes. No more doctorates."_

_Spencer suddenly found himself on the floor, where he had fallen when Mike suddenly let him go. Staring at him as if he was some sort of new bug Mike held out his arm to pull Spencer up. __His face breaking into a grin, Mike turned to Sean. "Dude, we are so making the Dean's list!"_

So many things had happened that no-one in the office was aware of, so many actions commonplace here that his colleagues would never believe possible.

Since the first time, when Sean decided to use him as an object lesson for Mike, Reid had been kissed on either entering or leaving by a wide variety of people. The entire thing had become some sort of in joke, part of the 'payment' for the help. The kisses had been mainly on the cheek but there had been the one sweeping gesture of overenthusiastic romantic intent, damn Valentine's Day and Mike's idea of a laugh.

Morgan hadn't been told. Reid honestly believed that Derek thought he'd never kissed anyone, let alone a fairly random selection of frat boys and sorority girls. Morgan also hadn't been told about the number of strange places, and people, he had woken up with following either parties or study sessions that morphed into poker nights; poker nights where the brothers invariably learnt a little more math then they planned - if probability rather than calculus.

_Spencer woke to a warm body getting in beside him. Sleepily turning over he was could just about make out the shape of Sean in the moonlight. _

_"Move over a bit, as long as you are awake." The whisper was barely audible, even though the house was quiet._

_"What?" Genius or not, no-one could be expected to produce a witty response when woken from a deep sleep._

_"The bed isn't that big. You need to move over so I'll fit." The explanation made sense but there was something wrong, if only Reid could work out what it was. _

_Sean wasn't supposed to be there. That was it. He was supposed to be over at the current girl's apartment. Mike had said it would be alright to crash when the poker session had tripped over into morning and this was supposed to be an unoccupied bed. "Katy's?" Conversation was still a none-starter._

_"She threw me out. I shouldn't have criticised the cooking even if she did add too much oregano." A warm hand went under Spencer's shoulder and lifted, trying to get him to roll back onto his side._

_"I should go." Spencer tried to sit up but his body didn't appear to be under his control._

_"Don't be stupid, it's three in the morning, nothings running and it will take you hours to get home. Go back to sleep. Just don't snore! You can be my giant hot water bottle, it's freezing out." Sean finally managed to get Spencer back on his side and curled in around him._

_With the warmth at his back and the arm draped loosely over his chest it took only seconds for Spencer to snuggle down and slip back into his dreams._

The door opened to Reid's knock and the familiar cry of "Sean, you're boyfriend's here" rang from the mouth of the freshman. No-one even reacted anymore but Reid was told that Sean was in the kitchen preparing something for the Monday night feast. It had only taken a few visits for it to become extremely clear that Mike was incapable of preparing anything in the food department that didn't involve chips or a phone.

Pushing open the kitchen door, Reid was greeted by the sight of Sean dancing around in his socks to an old film soundtrack while stirring something in the giant pot.

A soft "hi" got Sean to look over his shoulder and smile, so at least he seemed in a relatively good mood. With finals done and the end of the semester approaching at least it wouldn't seem too odd if Reid never came back.

Sean picked up a spoon and dipped it in the concoction on the stove. Skidding across the floor he put on a falsetto and joined in with the song. "_Flash, Flash I love you but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!_" He held up the spoon only to pull it away when Reid made to take the proffered food. "Careful it's hot."

Reid rolled his eyes but dutifully blew on the food before tasting. "Flash? Hmm, needs oregano." He added with a smile.

"Well if you're the 'boyfriend' that must make me Dale and you Flash, in the context of the song at least." He hit Reid on the nose with the spoon. "And no, it doesn't, it has the perfect amount of oregano, thank you very much." Sean turned back to the stove and adjusted the heat. "So anything interesting happen over the past week, catch any more psycho bad guys?"

"I went on a date." Reid deliberately didn't look at Sean while he pulled the stool away from the counter. This didn't stop the other man moving to lean over and look at him.

"Oh really? With?"

"JJ." Reid continued to look down at his hands. "Gideon gave me a couple of tickets for my birthday and suggested I ask her out."

"The hot blonde?" The grin on Sean's face was really disturbing but Reid nodded. "How did it go?"

Reid closed his eyes as he recalled last night's fiasco. "It could have been... better." Even without sight Reid knew that the grin on Sean's face was growing wider. This was the reason he hadn't told Morgan about the date, the mocking was not worth the relief of no longer being pestered for details. "We went to the Redskin's game."

"Wait a second, back back back. You had tickets to the Redskin's game and you took a girl? Whatever you do don't tell Mike!"

"Don't tell Mike what?" The two men at the counter turned to look at the man in question, who crossed the room to give Reid a one armed hug that threatened to crack a couple of ribs.

"Nothing," it was Sean who answered, while Reid tried to prise the constricting arm off. "Can't you see we're trying to have a conversation here?"

"You vant to be alone? I understand. Just remember he has a gun." With a final squeeze he let Reid go. "What I really want to know, anyway, is when do we eat? I need to return something to the library before I start accumulating charges that would eclipse my student loans."

Sean glanced at the clock on the wall and offered a thirty minute grace period. Neither said anything until the door closed behind Mike's retreating form.

"So, you went to the game, without us but we are ignoring that for now. What happened then?"

Reid blushed. "I think I may be slightly demophobic. It was so loud, so many people. Watching football with you lot through there is _nothing_ like being there in person. I never want to go to another major sporting event, ever. He breathed in deeply and watched Sean move back to the stove, unconsciously giving him some space.

"But I came up with a theory." This was the part that was going to be difficult and Reid was glad that Mike had actually left the building. If this all blew up in his face at least he would be able to escape without any awkward questions. Sean could always say that he got called in on a case. "And like any good scientist I need to test the theory." Reid stood and walked over to join Sean at the stove.

Taking hold of the younger man's arm he pulled him far enough away from the hot plate that no-one was going to get burnt. Sean started to look puzzled, Reid was still avoiding meeting his eyes; didn't want to see the same rejection that had been in JJ's the night before. Unconsciously liking his lips Reid leaned in slowly, deliberately giving the other man the chance to avoid the unasked for intimacy.

The first kiss was tentative, unsure of the response it was a fleeting touch before Reid's courage deserted him and he started to pull away. Sean reached out and grabbed his arm to pull him back in. They looked at each other for a moment before leaning in again and tentative gave way to passion.

Reid's hands came up to grasp Sean's face, reminiscent of the first time they had met, while the other man grabbed his hips to bring the two flush together. Angles changed as each tried their best to consume the other, tongues battling to see who would be the victor.

They finally broke in order to each take in some deep breaths. After a final peck, more akin to the kisses of the past year than the past 5 minutes, Sean cleared his throat and broke the silence. "So you said you had a theory. What was it?"

Reid smiled, it didn't look like he was going to be running from the frat this evening at the very least, unlike the football stadium the night before. "It is just possible that I might not be entirely straight."

"And the result of the test?"

"Well initial indicators seem to confirm the hypothesis but will need to be tested multiple times in order to ascertain whether or not those results were a fluke."

"Ascertain if they are a fluke? Well let me say now that I offer my services, in the interest of furthering the knowledge of science of course." Sean smiled as he leaned in for another kiss but stopped just short of making the connection. "Just so we are clear, so there are no misunderstandings, you don't need to go looking for any other test subjects."

* * *

Mike closed the door with a click and turned to glare at the freshman who wanted to enter the kitchen. Those two had taken enough time getting their asses in gear that the last thing they needed was to be interrupted by some eighteen year old barely out of high school. With a smile he grabbed the short loan book and the car keys. He could give them grief later.

* * *

**AN**: Rewatching early season one - there is a conversation between Reid and Elle, essentially it boils down to the reason Reid doesn't date is he doesn't ask anyone. So getting them together meant that it had to be post the date with JJ if I was going to even pretend to trying to keep this in canon.

And now that they are together, I think I'm going to leave them in peace. At least for a little while. Maybe make Rossi shout at Hotch instead for upsetting the good doctor a couple of seasons on.


End file.
